Pub. 13 2018-2019 Issue 5

NEBRASKA BANKERS ASSOCIATION 5 I N TODAY’S HYPER-POLITICAL AND VOLATILE ENVIRONMENT, THE stark reality is that businesses and banks need to pro- actively engage in the political process if they want to be successful over the long term. The banking industry knows all too well, unfortunately, how decisions made by elected of- ficials at both the federal and state level can do more to impact the profitability of our NBA member institutions than almost any other factor (think Dodd-Frank or ability to repay rules). With the close of 2018, I wanted to recognize the hard work and important impact of the NBA’s Political Action Committee (BankPAC). As a refresher, the bipartisan NBA BankPAC solicits vol- untary contributions from member banks and its officers and staff. These collective BankPAC funds are then provided to candidates for state constitutional and state and federal leg- islative elected office who understand and are supportive of banking, business and free enterprise. Your NBA has operated both a state BankPAC and federal BankPAC for more than 40 years. The two separate, segregated funds have two different focuses and unique sets of rules, regulations and limitations. NBA BankPAC is operated by a committee of 29 volunteer bankers representing institutions of all sizes and each of the NBA’s geographic groups across the state. These dedicated com- mittee members work tirelessly to coordinate the solicitation of BankPAC funds, and meet regularly to discuss and consider support and funding levels for various candidates. BankPAC committee support is determined by considering recommenda- tions of individual NBA members and a careful review of the following criteria: the candidate’s position on various banking and business issues, the candidate’s voting record, leadership ability, committee assignments, and the probability of the can- didate’s success. Additionally, committee members frequently reach out to other Nebraska bankers and friends to garner further background information on candidates. This process is not an exact science, but with solid input from committee members, local bankers and staff, the NBA has a strong history of supporting winning candidates. I want to extendmy apprecia- tion to NBA BankPAC Chairman Zach Karpf from Platte Valley Bank in Scottsbluff who is completing his service. Mr. Karpf has been a proactive committee leader and an important voice for the NBA BankPAC. The NBA State BankPAC solicits financial support from indi- viduals and bank contributions from state-chartered banks as well as state-chartered holding companies. Funds in the state BankPAC, as the name suggests, are focused on supporting can- didates fromstate legislative and constitutional offices. NBA staff is directly responsible for collecting andmanaging state BankPAC dollars, and all reporting requirements by theNebraska Account- ability andDisclosure Commission including quarterly filings, pre and post-election and annual year-end reports. The NBA’s Federal BankPAC solicits contributions from of- ficers and directors of national banks. NBA Federal BankPAC funds are used to support candidates for any of Nebraska’s five Congressional seats. Each year, the NBA Federal BankPAC con- tributes dollars to the American Bankers Association’s (ABA) affiliate BankPac who then cooperatively makes contributions to Nebraska’s federal incumbents or candidates. The ABA’s PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE YOUR NBA BANKPAC ATWORK Richard J. Baier, President & CEO, Nebraska Bankers Association President’s Message — continued on page 9